


Bring on the Rain

by politics_and_prose



Series: All That Heaven Will Allow [10]
Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 15:46:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18876253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/politics_and_prose/pseuds/politics_and_prose
Summary: Life hits David and Katherine fast and hard.





	Bring on the Rain

Katherine stared at her mother, eyes wide, not able to believe what the older woman had just suggested. She cleared her throat and looked away for a moment before returning her gaze to her mother, who was now smiling.

_Smirking_ , Katherine corrected herself.

“Are you alright, darling?” Kate asked, her voice light and the smile now reaching her eyes. “I know it’s probably a lot to take in. And …”

“We – I can’t be,” Katherine interrupted. “I can’t.”

Kate frowned. “Have you and David not …?” 

“Mother!” the younger woman exclaimed, scandalized. “That’s absolutely none of your business.”

“I believe you made it my business when you came to me for advice, darling. Are you not happy with David?”

“Of course I am,” Katherine replied, her shoulders slumping. “I love him. I just … I don’t feel ready for this. I don’t feel like we’ve saved enough to be able to …”

“You know I’m here for you if you need anything,” Kate told her daughter gently. “And your father is too.”

Taking a deep breath, Katherine nodded her head and let her chin fall to rest against her chest. It was somewhat difficult for her to breathe while she tried to push back the panic she felt rising within her. She loved her husband. She was happier in her life than she’d ever been before.

She really didn’t see the need to change anything.

“Just speak to your husband about this, Kitty. I’m sure David will be of much greater comfort than I am. I can tell you everything is going to be alright until I’m blue in the face but perhaps it’s not me you need to hear it from.”

Katherine took another deep breath and looked up to her mother. “I should probably see a physician before I even bring it up to David,” the young wife said with little inflection. “Best to be sure before I get … before …”

“Before you get his hopes up?” Kate asked, smiling slightly again.

“Before he has a panic attack,” Katherine amended. “Good or bad feelings about it, David will not be calm after I tell him. I should be positive before I say anything at all.” 

“Would you like me to come with you?” her mother asked.

Katherine was so grateful to have a good relationship with her mother. While she and her father, and by extension David and her father, had warmed to one another in the years since her relationship with David started, she still wouldn’t consider them to be close.

On the same hand, she didn’t feel like she was particularly close to David’s mother. Sarah, yes, but not Esther. They weren’t cold to one another, but she knew the Jacobs matriarch had issues with her line of work. They were cordial and never had any arguments, but Katherine knew that her mother-in-law would rather she have a more traditional job.

Thank god David loved her for who she was and never, not once, tried to dissuade her from following her dreams.

“No, thank you,” she said, reaching out and holding her mother’s hands. “I think this is one thing I should do on my own.”

“Alright, darling. But if you change your mind, I’m happy to spend the afternoon confirming that I’m …”

“I have to go, Mother,” Katherine said, putting on a smile as she stood. She leaned over and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for the tea.”

“You’re welcome, Kitty. Let me know how everything turns out. And, until you know, please take it a little bit easier than you usually do. I know it’s difficult but it would be better. Just until you know.”

“I will,” Katherine agreed, though she really had no intention of following through. It wasn’t feasible. She wouldn’t push herself much harder than she usually did but she wasn’t about to change who she was just because she could be …

Shaking her head, Katherine left her mother’s home and headed out onto the somewhat busy New York City sidewalk.

She would have to stop by her physician’s office to schedule an appointment; she didn’t want to wait any longer than necessary in order to find out whether her whole life was going to change dramatically within the next few months. 

\--

David sat staring at the man in front of him, unable to comprehend what he’d just been told. His heart was racing and he felt like he was going to panic. He couldn’t have heard the words his brain was telling him he had. It was impossible.

“You know how much we value you here, David. You can’t imagine how hard this has been.”

David nodded, not trusting himself to use actual words. A small part of him wished he could open his mouth and say something that Jack or Race or even Spot would have come up with in response to the news he’d just received. Unfortunately, he came up with nothing so just remained silent.

“We don’t really want to do this, David, but something had to be done.”

David nodded again, his eyes focusing on a bug – probably a fly, but possibly a spider – that was on the wall behind Mr. Callahan’s head. He wondered what the bug was thinking, hearing these people – really, just one man – go on and on, repeating himself about something that really only needed to be said once.

The bug probably wasn’t thinking anything. It was just a bug.

“David?”

His head snapped towards the man who was speaking. “I’m sorry,” he said, “I was – there’s a …” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“Do you need to take some time? I can have Miss Blumfeld cover your class after lunch if …”

“No,” David said, shaking his head quickly. “No. I’m fine. Thank you.”

Mr. Callahan nodded and stood, extending his hand. “Thank you for your understanding,” he told David, and David thought the man had absolutely no right to look like the weight of the world had just been lifted off of his shoulders.

David nodded, still not trusting his voice. He wanted to be rude and not shake Mr. Callahan’s hand, but he couldn’t bring himself to act that way. He reached out and gave one curt shake before turning and leaving the office.

His mind was spinning as he walked down the corridor to his classroom. The kids would be back in sooner rather than later, and he was planning on covering arithmetic this afternoon. The angry, hurt part of him wanted to simply allow the children to have free reign and behave as badly as they wanted to, but David loved his job and couldn’t give it anything but his best effort.

Knowing that he would continue with his curriculum as planned, he really only had one other thing on his mind.

_How in the world am I going to tell Katherine?_

\--

Katherine stepped out into the cool November air and pulled her jacket tighter around her body. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looked back up to the sign displaying her doctor’s name, and then headed down the street.

It had been nearly a week since she’d spoken with her mother and now she knew for sure that she’d been correct. Everything was about to change. Then again, she supposed, it’d already changed and now she finally knew it for sure. 

She headed back to The Sun, smiling at everyone as she passed. Some of them gave her a funny look but she continued on. Once inside her office, she leaned against her closed door and let her eyes fall shut.

The unease in her stomach made her take a step towards her trash can, but it faded and she simply sat at her desk instead. Katherine had no idea how in the world she was going to be able to tell David what was going on. They were in such a good place and hadn’t even spoken about expanding their family beyond him mentioning that one of his colleagues had a pregnant dog and they might want to consider adopting one.

_Well_ , she thought, _guess we’re going to be jumping into the fire instead._

Katherine knew that night she would have to tell her husband that she was pregnant, but she had no idea how she was going to do it. Their life was good, stable, and having a baby was going to upend it permanently.

\--

David had spent the last week being the best teacher he could be. He stayed late and helped children who weren’t picking up on some of the new lessons as easily, he accepted extra lunch duties from his co-workers, he took over preparing the morning announcements and distributing them to the other teachers. He had done every single thing he could think of to make himself invaluable.

It hadn’t made a lick of difference, though. At the end of the school day, Mr. Callahan stopped him in the hall and told him his last official day would be the last day before holiday break in December.

_Unemployed just in time for Hanukkah and Christmas_ , David thought angrily.

When David got home, Katherine was already there. It made his heart race, wondering if she somehow already knew what was happening. He never wanted to disappoint her and he would tonight when he told her what had happened. 

He knew they would be okay financially for a little while and he had been assured by Mr. Callahan that the man would write a glowing recommendation for David’s future job applications, but it still wasn’t going to be easy to tell his wife that he was being fired.

He had no idea how in the world the school was justifying combining two second grade classes after the new year, but he supposed it wasn’t his problem anymore, considering he was the one who was out of a job because of it.

The mean, angry, hurt part of him hoped the parents revolted and Mr. Callahan came crawling back to him; the heartbroken part made him hope Mrs. Apple could handle double the class size for half a year.

“Kath?” he called out, toeing his shoes off. “Everything okay?”

His beautiful wife came out of the kitchen, hair still pinned up and apron covering her work dress. “You’re later than I expected,” she said, not chiding but curious.

“Uh, yeah. I had a – I was meeting with Mr. Callahan.”

“Oh,” she said, smiling at him and disappearing back into the kitchen. He was confused when she came out with a beer for him and nodded for him to take a seat at the dining table. “There’s something I want to talk with you about.” 

“Okay,” he said slowly, taking the seat she indicated. When she sat across from him and reached for his hands, he was certain she already knew he lost his job. Honestly, it probably shouldn’t surprise him; it seemed his wife knew everything. “What – uh, what is it?”

“I found something out today,” she told him. “I mean, I’ve suspected for about a week but got the confirmation today.”

He knew it. Katherine was so smart and so well connected, it was definitely possible that she knew he’d lost his job, maybe even before he got the final confirmation. She looked so concerned and he wanted to tell her they would figure it out but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, he dropped his head. “I’m sorry.”

\--

Katherine’s heart broke at the look on David’s face. Of course her self-sacrificing husband would blame himself for this.

“Hey,” she said softly, ducking her head so she could meet his eyes. “It’s not your fault. It’s not – there’s _no_ fault.” Katherine didn’t want this child to think that they didn’t love it. Unexpected, unplanned and at least five years before they were going to start talking about having a child, sure, but she knew for sure that they would love this baby more than life.

“I should have done more to make sure it didn’t happen,” he said softly. “I tried – I tried _so hard_ – but I just …” David looked up at met her eyes and she thought he looked devastated.

“Darling,” she said softly, “If we’re going to assign blame, I’m just as guilty as you are.”

His look changed from broken to confused. “How could you think that?” he asked. “You had nothing to do with it.”

Katherine couldn’t help but sit back, slight offended and very confused. “I beg your pardon,” she said curtly. “I most definitely did. If I recall correctly, I was an active participant.” 

“An active – _what_?” David asked and Katherine got a sinking feeling that they weren’t talking about the same thing.

“David, what are you sorry for?” she asked.

“No, wait. If you’re not – what are _you_ talking about?”

Katherine thought for a second that she should push her husband and make him answer first but she found that she couldn’t do it. It was just a stalling tactic and it wasn’t fair to either of them. His face was full of confusion and concern and she couldn’t allow him to keep looking at her like that. 

“I’m pregnant.”

David stared at her, not blinking. She shifted uncomfortably, reaching up to cup his cheek. “David?”

“I –“ His voice cut off and then his face just _crumbled_. “I lost my job.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for sticking with me! There will be a couple of chapters in this story. :)


End file.
